Just as you can’t grasp anything without an opposable thumb, you can’t write anything without the aid of metaphor. Metaphor is the mind’s opposable thumb.

No event in modern history has inspired so many books as the Holocaust. This monumental atrocity has compelled thousands of writers to reexamine their notions of history, humanity, morality, and even theology. None of these books, however, is quite like Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl—a remarkable feat of fiction which starts in darkest despair and brings us, without simplification or condescension, to a glimmer of redemption.